


Pieces of Peonies, Painted in Porcelain

by ColourfulVoid



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Breaking Things, Ciel Secretly Has Feelings But He Tries To Pretend He Doesn't, Ciel and His Servants as Found Family, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Finnian Needs a Hug, Finny angst this time boys, Flowers, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Blood Mention, Sebastian really doesn't care though, Self-Esteem Issues, Yes this is the hill I will die on, vases
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23406859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColourfulVoid/pseuds/ColourfulVoid
Summary: One little mistake, and Finny is clutching broken pieces of a vase. He should've known better. He could never truly grow.All he can do is destroy.
Relationships: Baldroy & Finnian & Mey-Rin, Baldroy & Finnian & Mey-Rin & Sebastian Michaelis & Ciel Phantomhive & Snake & Tanaka, Ciel Phantomhive & Phantomhive Servants, Finnian & Ciel Phantomhive
Comments: 8
Kudos: 65





	Pieces of Peonies, Painted in Porcelain

**Author's Note:**

> im writing more black butler fic wow. as usual, no shipping, just ciel and his servants being the family they are. also this will have a second chapter! when? I do not know! probably soon tho. thank you to my betas!!!!  
> enjoy~

It had been an accident. A little slip-up, the first one in weeks. And maybe it was for that reason Finny felt so much like a failure. He stared hollowly at the pieces of shattered vase in his hands. Fractured pieces of porcelain and crumpled flowers lay scattered across the floor in puddles of water. 

He had already started to cry, but he was trying his hardest not to cry too hard or too loud. Letting anyone else in the house know he was upset would only make things worse. 

It had been so long since Finny had broken something by mistake. He had been doing so well, and now? 

It didn’t help that this happened to be Finny’s favourite vase in the entire mansion.

That may seem like an arbitrary thing for Finny to decide. In a house filled to the brim with expensive paintings, elaborate sculptures, and all manners of luxuries, what made this vase so special?

Finny remembered getting the vase. The young master had taken him and the other servants on an undercover mission to recover a stolen piece of jewelry that the queen had been particularly interested in. They had wound up at an auction, participating in a bidding war. Of course, before the jewel in question had come up, several other items had been bid upon, including the vase. 

Finny remembered how excited he had been when he saw it. It was tall and thin, a brilliant white, and decorated with incredibly realistic paintings of flowers and other plants.

Finny had tugged on Baldroy and Mey-Rin’s sleeves, jumping up and down with excitement as he listed off each flower on the vase, recognizing each from the garden.

Ciel had scoffed, rolling his eyes and making a remark about them being in public eye and decency. Finny hung his head and nodded, however continued to whisper under his breath everything he knew about the flowers adorning the vase.

After a solid 30 seconds of bidding back and forth and Finny’s excited rambling, Ciel had held up his own paddle, listing a bid much higher than anything the other bidders would be willing to pay. The auctioneer slammed his gavel and pronounced the vase Ciel’s.

Finny turned to CIel in surprise.

“Young master?” He had asked.

“Well you were going on and on about it.” Ciel waved dismissively. “Consider it an advance on your wages.”

Finny grinned and nodded.

“Right!”

Now that vase was destroyed, all because Finny couldn’t control his strength.

He was trying, focusing his efforts on making sure he didn’t grab something too hard and burst it. 

But whenever he let his attention drift for even a moment, he paid the price. 

Finny’s mind started to wander. If he broke this vase, what else would he break? What would be next?

Or maybe…

Not a what, but a who.

That was why he had been locked up in the first place, right? He was dangerous. He was  _ made _ to be dangerous. 

Finny scooped up the remains of the vase, fingers slipping and catching on the smaller pieces. They dug into his skin, drawing blood and smearing across the already ruined porcelain.

He would already be in enough trouble for breaking one of the master’s possessions, it might make things a tad easier if Sebastian didn’t have to clean anything else up.

Once each piece was in Finny’s palm, he began to wonder what he should do with the pieces. 

Surely Ciel would opt to be rid of them. He never saw reason in keeping things that were of no use to him, and surely a broken vase was as useless an object as any.

Just as useless as the broken vase was the one who broke it. What good was Finny as a gardener if all he could do was break things? The young master had never seemed to have minded too much before, but as the panic grew in Finny’s heart, he came to the conclusion that it was only a matter of time.

Finny looked down at his trembling hands, and in a split second made a choice. He ran, far away from the small puddle of water and broken vase, out of the manor and into the gardens, where there was no one for him to hurt but the plants.

* * *

Finny was a fairly easy person to find. Bright and bubbly and generally quite loud, so in the quiet Phantomhive mansion, it didn’t take much effort to locate him.

Except of course for now, which is what remained at the forefront of Baldroy’s thoughts as he looked up and down for Finny and came up blank. All he wanted to do was ask Finny about what vegetables the garden had ready for harvest, but apparently that was too much to ask.

“Oi!” Baldroy bellowed down the hall, his hands cupped around his mouth. “Finny! Where are you?!”

“Honestly I cannot fathom what possessed you in order for you to be in a state of mind where creating such racket is appropriate.” Sebastian appeared seemingly out of thin air beside Baldroy. Baldroy jumped as Sebastian spoke, not having seen him there before.

“Augh! Jesus- you scared the livin’ lights outta me.”

Sebastian glared down at Baldroy with his signature ‘disappointed in the servants inability to perform duties’ look.

“Mind telling me, pray tell, why you are bellowing down this hallway like a wounded animal?”

Baldroy rubbed the back of his neck and looked off to the side.

“Well ya see, I was lookin’ for Finny ‘ight? But I can’t seem to find ‘im anywhere!”

Sebastian frowned.

“Hmm, that is unfortunate. Where has Finnian gone off to?”

Sebastian’s darted back and forth, quickly scanning the hall.

Instead of seeing Finny, they spotted Mey-Rin, stumbling towards them and clutching onto a mop.

“A-ah! S-Sebastian!” Mey-Rin cried, seeing him from across the hall. “Is s-something wr-wrong?”

Sebastian shook his head, shooting a brief glance at Baldroy.

“No, Mey-Rin. Bard here was just wondering where Finnian’s run off to.”

Mey-Rin straightened, lighting her grip on the mop.

“Finny’s gone missing?”

Sebastian sighed.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions now. He’s likely just gone off to garden in the farther reaches of the estate. It is quite a large manor after all.”

Mey-Rin nodded so hard, Baldroy was momentarily concerned her pigtails would come undone.

“Excuse me,” A quiet voice whispered behind Mey-Rin. “Says Emily.”

She jumped, whipping around to see Snake and Tanaka standing behind her. Snake’s snakes were winding around his legs and up and down his arms. One of them was curled up on his head, though Mey-Rin couldn’t tell who. The snakes were a bit more active than usual, movement suggesting a sort of frantic curiosity.

“We’d like to know why Finnian is crying in the garden. Says Oscar.”

“Finny’s what now?” Baldroy barked out. “Where is ‘e?”

“Out in the garden, past the rose bushes. Says Keats.”

Seemingly uncaring, Sebastian spoke up.

“Well, we’ve located Finnian. Now you all can-“

“What are you all doing out here?”

This time everyone, with the exception of Sebastian, whipped around in surprise to see Ciel standing there, tapping his foot as he looked over at his servants with a disapproving glare.

“I do not pay you to stand around all day. Now explain why you are all out here, and why Mey-Rin is carrying around a mop. The floors aren’t supposed to be cleaned on Tuesdays.”

Mey-Rin jumped at the sound of her name.

“R-right, young master! A vase broke in the east wing and I was going to mop it up, I was!”

“Vase?” The servants (sans Sebastian, still standing there, utterly bored of these events) and Ciel asked in unison.

Mey-Rin nodded again.

“Aye, the one outside the portrait of London at night.”

She adjusted her glasses as she spoke.

“Someone seems to have taken the large pieces they did, but the water is still spilled, and the flowers that were put there the other day are there too.”

“Finny’s favourite vase…” Ciel mused under his breath, raising a hand to his chin.

Baldroy groaned.

“Really? ‘Might be ‘is favourite an’ all, but did he really hav’ta go off an’ cry ‘bout it?”

Ciel raised an eyebrow.

“Cry?”

Sebastian, finally willing to contribute to the conversation again, stepped forward.

“Yes my lord, it appears as though Finnian has disappeared to mourn the loss of this vase in the garden.” 

Ciel frowned.

“How utterly childish.”

Sebastian nodded.

“Indeed. Apologies for the interruption master. I’ll be sure to send these ones-” he glared down at the other servants, “-on their way, and go collect Finnian myself. Such behaviour-“

“That’s enough, Sebastian.” Ciel waved a hand and Sebastian promptly silenced himself, perfectly obedient, like a dog.

“I shall go find Finnian, and you all shall help me. If you lot have enough time to sit here and chatter on with each other, surely you have enough time to accompany me. To the gardens.” 

With sheer confidence, Ciel strutted forward, heading towards the gardens. Sebastian and Tanaka immediately followed. Baldroy, Mey-Rin, and Snake exchanged glances. Could this be a trick? The young master didn’t like them to waste time on endeavours that were not their jobs. 

Ciel turned around, sensing a lack of people following him.

“Have you lot gone deaf or are you all just thick?” He scolded. “I said you would help me retrieve Finny. That was an order.”

The trio straightened, raising their hands in a mock salute.

“Right, Young Master!”

“O-of course, Young Master!”

“Yes, Young Master. Says Wordsworth.”

Ciel nodded.

“There. You’ve wasted enough of my time already, now get moving.”

And so off to the gardens they went. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading! if u wanna yell at me to hurry up with the next chapter, share thoughts, or just says hi, there's some fun links for u below! (if u wanna give me prompts and writing requests, please do on my Tumblr!!!!) The comments are also always open, and it would make my day to get a comment or kudos from u!  
> [The Fanfiction Writing (and reading) Community Discord](https://discord.gg/G4vrXDh)   
> [My Twitter](https://twitter.com/Colourful_Void)  
> [My Tumblr](https://void-of-many-colours.tumblr.com)  
> Enough self promo, thank you all so much for reading this chapter! see you soon!


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